Size Matters to Students, Says 14-Inch Tablet Maker

Tablet startup Kno has a message for all the other tablet makers out there: Bigger is better.

The company is counting on two things to set it apart from the increasingly heated competition in the tablet space: a clear focus on students as potential consumers — and a massive 14-inch screen size.

“From the students’ perspective you need the real estate to completely see a single page of a textbook without scrolling,” says Osman Rashid, co-founder and CEO of Kno, “and you need enough room to make notes around the edges.”

Indeed, in a hands-on demonstration at the Wired offices, the Kno’s screen made other tablets look puny in comparison, with a surface area that’s about twice as large as the iPad’s. It’s even larger than a copy of Wired magazine.

Kno launched the single-screen tablet Monday. In June, it showed off a dual-screen device that would have two 14-inch LCD touchscreens that fold in like a book. Both the single screen and dual-screen tablets are expected to start shipping at the end of the year. There’s no word yet on pricing.

Meanwhile, here’s a closer look at the features of the single screen tablet.

The Kno will run on an Nvidia Tegra processor and have a capacitive touchscreen. It will also come with a stylus to write notes or draw on the device.

The device isn’t lightweight, though. The massive 14-inch screen pushes its weight up to 2.6 lbs. Compare that to the 1.5 lbs of the 9.7-inch Apple iPad.

Rashid says the heft is unlikely to become a strike against the device. The Kno tablet can hold up to 10 semesters’ worth of content, or 25 to 35 books. That will make the 2.6-pound device lighter than a backpack filled with half as many paper books, he says.

The Kno divides its home screen into three tabs: My Apps, My Courses and My Library. Under the Apps tab, the tablet — which runs a version of embedded Linux operating system — has a browser, notebooks, news apps and an RSS reader. Kno plans to release a SDK (software developers kit) so independent programmers can create applications for the device.

The My Courses tab features all e-textbooks sorted by semester. The company plans to have its own bookstore where students can download textbooks.

Overall, e-textbooks from the Kno bookstore will be about 30 percent to 40 percent cheaper than their hardcover versions, says Rashid.

The Kno will have a battery life of six to eight hours and a one-hour charge time.

“We are not trying to replace a laptop,” says Rashid. “Instead we are trying to improve on it by making it better for students.”